The 76ers entered the postseason with many questions. What role will
Toni Kukoc play in the team's future? Is Allen Iverson a 76er for the
long haul? What, exactly, is the center situation? All these
questions could play into what the team will do in the draft

Positional Analysis

The Sixers are a team built around its star, Allen
Iverson. Eric
Snow is a tall point who plays good defense. This hides Allen's
defensive shortcomings that are caused by his diminutive size. Allen
Iverson is one of the NBA's greatest superstars. He is a dominant
scorer and incredible talent. Aaron McKie has proven to be a capable
backup at both backcourt positions. However, there is less depth in the
backcourt since the Larry Hughes trade (which yielded Toni Kukoc) and
Sixers management may look at an explosive 2-guard or combo guard as
their pick.

The frontcourt of the Sixers is a hodge-podge.
Theo Ratliff is a
superb defensive player whose offense continues to improve. Ratliff has
shown the ability to swing between power forward and center, which
helped a great deal when Matt Geiger disappointed earlier in the
season. Geiger runs hot and cold for the Sixers. He's sometimes a
workhorse and sometimes falls asleep. The Sixers might be looking for a
change at the center spot. Tyrone Hill is a fine defensive role player
at the 4 spot. Todd MacCulloch also was a present surprise at center
last year, his rookie campaign. But the most intriguing position for
the 76ers is the small forward position.

George Lynch ate up all of the small forward minutes before the
Kukoc trade. Lynch is a fine defensive player with a mediocre NBA
offensive game. Kukoc is a less than mediocre defender with a dazzling
offensive repertoire. Kukoc disappointed in his half-season with the
76ers. He was occasionally incredible for the 76ers during the regular
season, but he was not effective very often during the playoffs. Kukoc
is a free agent, and his future with the team is unclear.

Essentially the backcourt is the only part of the Sixers team that
is set. However, Iverson continues to indulge in childish behavior. He
misses practices and was actually late for playoff games. This has
created a situation between Iverson and management that could boil over
at some point and culminate in a trade.
Team Needs:

A fine defensive team, the Sixers need some explosive scoring off
the bench. Toni Kukoc was brought in to provide that, but I expect the
Sixers to look hard at a scoring guard in this years draft. Brown seems
to love Todd MacCulloch as a backup. Geiger may not be a permanent
fixture and Brown may look at drafting a big man with upside that would
make Geiger tradable.

Draft History

Larry Brown has shown a desire in the past to pick the highest rated
player and then try to work a trade that will acquire a lesser ranked
player that Brown likes. This is how the Sixers acquired Nazr Mohammed
and Jumaine Jones. For that reason, it is likely that the Sixers will
not deviate too wildly from the most well known player available. But
with all the question marks surrounding the team, who knows what they'll
do?

1995: Selected Jerry Stackhouse with the third pick. Later traded along
with Eric Montross for Aaron McKie and Theo Ratliff.
This seems bad, but Theo may be worth it in the long run.

1996: Selected Allen Iverson with the first pick.

1997: Selected Keith Van
Horn. Traded for Jim Jackson and the pick that
would become Tim Thomas. Thomas later traded for Tyrone Hill. Whew!
They're paying for this trade IMO. Thomas is looking good....

1998: Selected Larry Hughes with the eighth pick. Traded for Toni
Kukoc.
Has not worked, unfortunately. Larry has ridiculous potential and
Toni just doesn't appear to have the value that Larry has at this
point. We'll see next year I guess.

1999: Selected Todd MacCulloch with the forty-seventh pick. Traded
future draft rights for Jumaine Jones, the 27th pick.
MacCulloch was an awesome pick and lots of teams are kicking
themselves for not getting him in the second round.

Possibilities for their pick:

Quentin
Richardson: A tough rebounder at just 6-5, Q leaves school after
just his freshman year. All big, talented guards will be tempting, and
Quentin is no exception.

Small Forwards?: Toni's up there in age, and Brown would love to have a
young player to groom as the future 3. Brown seems to be the kind of
guy who likes to gamble in the draft, so I wouldn't be surprised to see
him pick a wild card such as Cory Hightower (who has worked out for the
Sixers).

Big Men?: The Sixers raised some questions by bringing in 7 foot
Primoz
Brezec for workouts. Iakovos Tsakilidis,
Ernest Brown, Soumaila Samake
or other big men like Dalibor Bagaric may be possibilities if Geiger is
on his way out (the only player that Brown seems to truly adore is Theo
Ratliff). Brown will probably roll the dice on Tsakilidis if he's
around, despite the big Greek's contract situation in Europe.

Free Agents

Larry Brown seems to love his bench. Todd MacCulloch will be
coveted by the Sixers, and I expect him to be re-signed. Aaron McKie
will probably be back as well. Back-up guards Kevin Ollie and
Ira
Bowman will probably sign for the minimum again. The big question is
Toni Kukoc. His performance was not what the Sixers had hoped it to be.
I still expect him to be re-signed, but a trade is very possible.
They'll give him another chance to prove himself.

With the 20th pick in the Usenet Draft, the Philadelphia 76ers
select........

The Reasoning:

Ratliff would be very comfortable at the 4 and combining him with the
big Greek in the inside would help cover up the weaknesses of the small
backcourt.

Brown loves to take risks with his drafts (Jumaine Jones!).

He's the best player left.

If he's stuck in his contract, I think the Sixers can wait.

Even if he's tied up in a European contract, he's a steal at 20.

As for what I think the Sixers should do outside of the draft,
everything is determined by Kukoc. If he can establish himself as a
part of the team, then the only hole on the team may be a true center.
Allen Iverson will one day be a legend, probably a hall of famer. He
should continue to get better and better. If Sixers management can
continue to add the pieces to complement Iverson (which must have been
their thinking in the Kukoc trade), then one day owner Pat Croce's dream
of a victory parade may come true.